4 out of 5 stars "World Peace": The 2026 Miss Canada Pageant
Reviewed
We've all seen the Miss Teen USA video "like such as South Africa and, uh, the Iraq".
"World Peace" dives into a group of competitors at the Miss Canada Pageant, with our central character struggling at the prospect answering those same difficult, multi-ended questions, succinctly in 30 seconds on stage.
In a one-woman performance, Samantha Fraughton slips into (both figuratively and in some cases literally) multiple characters. And while I can't remember all their names, whenever any of them were on the stage, I could instantly recognize them. Fraughton has impressive physicality in each performance with subtle posture, movement and inflection changes selling each character. There's a bit of comedic clowning at work here, which the audience loved.
The name thing also might be a reviewer skill issue. Sorry to all the people who I've had to do reintroductions with on the grounds after forgetting your names.
The play tells a personal story about pageant life, flawed concepts of women empowerment, and competition replacing humanity and empathy. It's worth a watch.